Growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Russia which spilled over into violent riots in Moscow earlier this month is playing into the hands of a government keen to promote the image of a popular ‘enemy’ to a discontented public, rights groups claim.

More than a thousand people took to the streets in Biryulyovo in southern Moscow on Oct. 13 following the killing of a young man, allegedly by an immigrant.

Protesters smashed cars, vandalised shops and fought running battles with police officers.

The Kremlin’s response was to arrest more than a thousand suspected illegal immigrants while politicians began preparing laws to limit immigration. Of the almost 400 people detained during the riots, the vast majority were later released without charge.“The Kremlin is trying to manipulate public opinion by using an ‘enemy’ as a means to focus discontent among the people away from itself."

But while the measures met with general public support, rights groups said that the riots had given the authorities the chance to improve their appeal to a public which the Kremlin fears is becoming less and less acquiescent.

Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch told IPS: “The Kremlin is trying to manipulate public opinion by using an ‘enemy’ as a means to focus discontent among the people away from itself.

“The image of ‘migrants’ is indeed a key such image which they are exploiting for this purpose.”

Anti-immigrant sentiment has strengthened in Russia in recent years, especially in its major cities, as growing numbers of migrants from former Soviet states from the Caucasus to Central Asia have arrived in search of work.

There has been very little integration of immigrants with the wider Russian community during that time and most migrants live in largely closed communities.

These communities are widely viewed as being ridden with crime and there is a popular perception that immigrant crime rates are disproportionately high.

According to data from Moscow’s prosecution service, foreigners were responsible for about one-fifth of all crimes in the city. It said that during the summer the number of crimes committed by immigrants had risen by 60 percent.

Local politicians have recently been happy to capitalise on this perception.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, a member of the ruling United Russia party, was elected last month on the back of a campaign which was openly anti-immigrant and this summer ordered a massive round-up and arrests of illegal immigrants in the capital.

Prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny too has spoken out against immigrant criminality following the riots.

The open xenophobia from politicians is a shift, however, in government policy. Until relatively recently, racism had been kept off the Kremlin agenda as racial tensions were seen as a potentially explosive threat to national security which should not be encouraged.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned of the dangers of extreme nationalism.

But the growing public dissatisfaction with the government over what it sees as rampant corruption within the state apparatus and a disregard for the problems of ordinary Russians has forced a change as part of a wider attack on target groups which the government is looking to paint as common threats.

Critics say it can then curry favour with the electorate by being seen to be dealing with these threats – indeed, footage of the Azeri suspect in the killing which prompted the riots, apparently being beaten by police as he was taken into custody, was given prominent airtime on TV.

Apart from immigrants, other minorities are being singled out as such targets. LGBT people face de facto discrimination and persecution in Russia and controversial legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality was introduced this year despite virulent protests from the international community.

A law is expected to be passed early next year which will give authorities the right to take children away from same-sex couples.

But it is not just minorities that have suffered.

The Kremlin has also moved to repress civil society groups, especially those with connections to foreign organisations. A law passed late last year forced some foreign-funded NGOs to register as ‘foreign agents’ – a term that is widely understood in Russia to mean spy or traitor – or face massive fines and, potentially, jail sentences.

Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst and research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told local media following the riots: “The authorities have intentionally stimulated hostility against various groups.”

He added that public demands for stricter controls on immigrants – a survey carried out by the independent Levada institute recently showed 84 percent of Russians wanted a visa regime introduced for immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia – could prompt the Kremlin to bring in widespread authoritarian law and order measures.

These in turn could be used against other minority groups as the government continues to crack down on any potential opposition to its rule.

But popular discontent over immigration is unlikely to abate any time soon, especially with what experts say is the rampant corruption involved in immigrant registration and police dealing with crimes.

Locals complained after the riots that the authorities did nothing to ensure that justice was served on immigrant criminals who, they say, are often never punished for crimes.

Opposition leader Navalny wrote on his blog immediately after the riots: “The more of a nightmare the migrant ghetto creates for residents, the more law enforcement officials and local authorities can earn. People get away with committing crimes because they bribe the authorities.”

Policemen guard a Buddhist monastery in Dhaka following sectarian violence in Cox's Bazar. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

By Farid Ahmed
DHAKA, Oct 10 2012 (IPS)

Anxiety has yet to die down over a week after crowds of Muslims torched more than a dozen temples and scores of houses in southeast Bangladesh, leaving thousands of Buddhists with the unshakeable premonition that more violence was forthcoming.

The government has repeatedly tried to assure the religious minority that they have the support and protection of the state, while the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Mizanur Rahman, apologised for the atrocities – but it seems nothing can assuage the fear of fresh violence.

“We’re shocked by this unexpected violence… yet we appeal to all to maintain peace as Buddhism preaches peace and non-violence,” Dr. Pranab Kumar Baruya, a former visiting professor of Dhaka University, told IPS during an interview at the Dharma Rajika Buddhist Monastery in Dhaka.

“We want communal harmony. We number only one million (in Bangladesh) and we need the support of the government and the majority of the people in a country where we’ve also been born and where Buddhism has been practiced for more than a thousand years,” he added.

Amid mounting pressure on the government to launch a judicial inquiry into the attacks, the country’s top business leaders have expressed anxieties that a recurrence of such incidents might have a negative impact on the country’s image, investment and international trade.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry asked the government on Thursday to take immediate measures to ensure “such unexpected incidents do not take place (again).”

“A sense of fear still persists among the Buddhist people and it’s the responsibility of the government to allay the fear by providing proper security and bringing the culprits to justice,” Ranjit Kumar Barua, a retired joint-secretary to the government of Bangladesh, told IPS.

Ancient relics destroyed

The riot began on Sept. 29, when large crowds of Muslims attacked Buddhist shrines and torched homes in southeast Bangladesh, home to the highest concentration of Buddhists in the country.

Protesters chanted anti-Buddhist slogans and rioted throughout the night in the town of Ramu in the tourist district of Cox’s Bazar. Violence spilled into the adjoining areas and continued the following day.

The local administration had to call in the army, paramilitary troops from Border Guards Bangladesh and police forces to maintain law and order.

According to Baruya, ancient Buddhist relics, along with rare palm-leaf manuscripts of folk and religious tales (locally known as Puthis) were burned and several hundred rare statues of Lord Buddha were either damaged or looted by the mobs.

“Almost all the temples and monasteries, adorned intricately with wood carvings, were burned and damaged. They were several hundred years old; some of them were built in the late 17^th or early 18^th centuries,” he said.

Pragyananda Bhikkhu, resident director of the Ramu Central Sima Bihar in Cox’s Bazar, told IPS, “The damage done is irreparable and no one on earth will be able to compensate for this loss. The wounds might heal but they will continue to bleed deep in our hearts.”

“The temples belonged to the Buddhists, but they were also priceless treasures of our country (as a whole), they were part of our heritage,” Nehal Ahmed, a college professor in Dhaka, told IPS.

Police and witnesses told IPS that a photograph of a partially burned Quran, allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist youth, sparked the riot.

An initial report said that the boy was tagged in the photo but did not post it himself. The Facebook user’s account has since been deleted.

“This can’t be accepted in this relatively peaceful South Asian nation,” Ahmed said, referring to the recent deadly violence that swept across several countries in response to a low-budget American film, ‘Innocence of Muslim’, desecrating Prophet Mohammad.

“We’ve seen many deaths during protests in Pakistan over the anti-Islam film, but it was relatively peaceful in Bangladesh,” he said.

Political stalemate

Top political leaders, hailing from the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have pointed accusing fingers at each other in a blame game that has further deepened the anxiety of Buddhists who comprise less than one percent of the total population in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Home Minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, who visited the scene of the violence immediately after the riot, blamed the BNP for the attacks.

The minister said the violence was planned, citing evidence of gunpowder and petrol found in the burnt monasteries and houses.

Both the prime minister and the home minister also hinted that Rohingya Muslims, refugees of persection and sectarian violence in neighbouring Myanmar (formerly Burma) who fled to Cox’s Bazar two decades ago, might be responsible for instigating the attacks.

Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP and a former prime minister of Bangladesh, said on Saturday that the government itself was behind the attacks.

This week the Bangladesh Supreme Court ordered the government to ensure complete security to Buddhists and other minority groups.

Buddhist monks, primarily in Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, staged demonstrations in front of the Bangladesh missions in their respective countries, venting their anger and demanding an impartial probe into the attacks.

International rights groups and non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International also asked the government to bring the culprits to book immediately.

Many Buddhists feel that whatever the investigation unearths, horrific memories of one of the worst attacks on the Buddhist faith will remain alive.

(END)